Duplicitous

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be a person of conscience living in this city. Living in this city, for the lucky ones who can afford to, involves stifling your conscience on a daily basis. Pretending the scope and scale of blatant homelessness isn’t a crisis. Apologizing to those asking for money. Not gawking at the poor souls locked in a half-bent fentanyl-induced pose in the middle of the day, on a busy route. The constant need to turn a blind eye is turning me into a soulless callous person.

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Anonymous

Nov 7, 2019 at 4:27pm

You must be new here. How exactly is the average person responsible for this? Blame the corruption higher up, the extremely wealthy criminals profiting off of this despicable misery, not the average commuter struggling to pay a fortune for a shoebox in the basement of some rich investor's house.

Anonymous

Nov 7, 2019 at 8:03pm

Leave! The city was overrated when it was affordable and now that it's astronomically priced for what it is, it's ridiculous to stay there.

Don't Take It On

Nov 7, 2019 at 8:04pm

There are thousands of people in the DTES working to make lives better, but ultimately it's the individual that will have to commit to make real change in their life... and yes, not all will make it. Instead, read about the many success stories. Life is grimy, don't let it get you down.

Meh

Nov 8, 2019 at 7:45am

I don’t apologize to people who ask for money. It’s funny how people never seem to put accountability on others.

19 9Rating: +10

Ummmm

Nov 8, 2019 at 8:41am

If you’re worried about turning into a soulless callous person, there’s an easy fix: don’t be that way. If you saw an old lady trip and fall you’d help her up wouldn’t you? You can lift up others too. Maybe they fall down again but maybe they don’t. The mistake people on here constantly make is that we are powerless pawns of social forces swirling around us. This is worse than wrong it’s silly.

Agreed

Nov 8, 2019 at 10:32am

When I first moved here I remember feeling surprised and saddened by the level of poverty here. I’ve noticed it get worse over the years. I know I’ll sound like a conspiracy theorist but I think North American society is collapsing due to capitalism and may either go through a revolution into a new ism or will just degrade into chaos. I’m not sure if there is a middle ground. My way of dealing with it is oscillating between doing what little I can and closing my heart off by ignoring it. Neither feels great. I want to do more but often I feel paralyzed with not knowing how to act in the enormity of what I perceive the issue to be.

Anonymous

Nov 8, 2019 at 4:14pm

I feel fortunate that I have a roof over my head, and food in the fridge. I'm wary of just giving money to charities, I would rather buy stuff for the donation bin that most grocery stores have. Besides food, donations of diapers and basic toiletries for adults are welcomed.

14 4Rating: +10

Ironic

Nov 8, 2019 at 10:04pm

Well, lookie here. Vagrant trolling for sympathy, in an attempt to shake more shekels from working folk.
Seen it before. Crass manipulation and entitlement. The combination somehow fails to inspire altruism. Imagine that.
Now I feel much less charitable. Well played, rough sleeper.
A good thing, this. The baristas will be getting more money in their tip jar. Seeing as they actually work for a living and provide useful service.

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